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Beaverhunter2
04-28-2008, 05:26 PM
I visited my local scrap yard today. Picked up a few wheelweights plus some 50/50 solder. I got 19lbs of solder at $1.25/lb. Seems like good deal based on what I paid for my first bar at the plumbing supply store. ($14.00). I've got the receiving guy watching out for linotype for me. He said they get it in from time to time and he'll stash it for me.

Here's my "metal question":

They had probably 80 or 100 lbs of what looked like lead (and felt heavy like lead), but when they shot it with their laser gun thing, it came up about half tin and half bismuth (with trace amounts of antimony and selenium). It's hard- can't mark it with my thumbnail.

What is this stuff? And more importantly, is it good for making boolits or alloying with other boolit metals? If it has a purpose, I think I could probably get it for a buck or two a pound.

Thanks for the help!

John

Morgan Astorbilt
04-28-2008, 05:54 PM
It's not any kind of Babbit metal I'm familiar with. Too much bismuth, and no copper, or other metals Babbit is composed of. Lead will alloy with bismuth in any amount, so if you just use it for tin, at $2/lb., you're getting the tin for $4/lb. Still a good deal. I have no experience with bismuth, but have never heard that it will contaminate bullet metal the way zinc will.
Morgan

Alchemist
04-28-2008, 10:13 PM
Since bismuth is used for non-toxic shot, would that make boolits "less lethal"? [smilie=1: Also, bismuth is denser than lead IIRC, so it would make heavier boolits than alloy w/o bismuth....??

runfiverun
04-28-2008, 10:21 PM
i would just try for @ tin and not worry about the other stuff.
try mixing iy yhat way for a smal batch. bismuth is brittle you use tin to make it better

Beaverhunter2
04-28-2008, 10:40 PM
Well, I did little checking and here is what I've found:

Density:
Lead 11.35g/cc
Bismuth 9.75g/cc
Tin 7.29 g/cc

Melting points:
Lead 621degF
Bismuth 520degF
Tin 449degF

Does anyone know if it has any negative impact on the "castability" of alloys? Based on my memory of the analysis, the stuff is closest to "cerrotru" which is a casting alloy with a melting point around 281degF. Weird that the melting point of the alloy should be lower than that of the individual elements. Here's some info:

"CERROTRU Alloy is a bismuth-base eutectic alloy that melts at 281 F (138 C). It has the highest melting point of the bismuth-base alloys commonly used in industry. It provides production engineers with an easily castable material that is ready for use soon after it freezes. The alloy can be recovered easily and recycled into new uses any number of times. Cerrotru alloy has many uses including anchoring, molds for plastics, filler for tube bending and liquid metal in heat treating."

If the bismuth doesn't hurt castabilty, it seems like this could be a good source of tin.

Thanks for the input!

John

Cherokee
04-29-2008, 01:21 PM
Interesting, had not thought about bismuth. Anybody got any more info for use in bullets ?

scrapcan
04-29-2008, 05:37 PM
You need to see if you can get Floodgate to come in on the discussion, he was gearign up to work with bismuth. Send him a pm.

Beaverhunter2
04-29-2008, 06:12 PM
Thanks for the tip, Manley- I did!

John